Archive for April, 2009

Loyd Grossman Cooking For The Perfect Night In

by Andrew on April 21, 2009 in On The Web, Television, Radio, Video, Film with No comments

loyd_grossmanThe time-honoured tradition of having a big night in – which many of us feared was being lost – is high on people’s agendas again. It seems we all want to gather our family and friends and get them over to ours for a night in of delicious dinner, but just don’t think we can. The truth is that more than one in four of us think we lack the skills to cook for lots of guests. That’s why Loyd Grossman is challenging households across the nation to get cooking for family and friends – and he’s here to tell us how to do just that in our Web TV show.

A new survey commissioned by Loyd Grossman Sauces reveals main reasons we don’t cook for other people anymore is a fear of being criticised and not knowing what to cook. Nearly half of us have less than six ‘standby dishes’ in our cookery repertories

As a renowned food critic, who himself has invested a lot of time and research in developing his own range of sauces, Loyd is the perfect person to give us some tasty guidance. He’ll be answering all your culinary related questions, and giving top tips for tasty meal ideas with limited resources. Log on to find out how just a little creative thinking about conventional ingredients can turn a dreary dinnertime into a truly tasty treat. So set a date in the diary now for your ‘big night in’…and watch our WebTV show for some expert advice on how to pull it off with a bang!

Loyd Grossman is online at http://webchats.tv/chat/cooking_for_the_perfect_night_in on Friday 24th April at 12pm to to discuss preparing the perfect big night in for family and friends.

Opera Singer Bryn Terfel Sommelier at High Timber Restaurant

by Andrew on April 20, 2009 in Eating Out with No comments

high timber restaurantCustomers at City restaurant High Timber could well find themselves being served wine by a world famous opera singer on Wednesday night.

Renowned Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel will spend the evening working as a sommelier under the watchful eye and guidance of High Timber’s co-owner, and resident wine expert, Neleen Strauss. Bryn is recording his experience as part of a series for Radio 4, in which he learns about the various stage of a wine’s journey from grape to glass.

High Timber owner Neleen Strauss said: “We have over 1,200 different wines in stock at High Timber, so Bryn has a huge challenge on his hands with one of the largest cellars in London. It takes years to learn the skills of a master sommelier but I hope to be able to put Bryn’s new found knowledge of wines into practice and have some fun with our regular customers along the way.”

High Timber is the only restaurant in the City of London with tables on the banks of the Thames, it is situated 100 yards from the north side of the Millennium Bridge, a brief walk from St Paul’s Cathedral and the London Stock Exchange. It has some of the best views of any restaurant in the UK.

Its founders are Gary & Kathy Jordan of the Jordan Wine Estate in South Africa, winners of some of the world’s most prestigious wine awards, and their partner Neleen Strauss, one of London’s most successful restaurant managers.

High Timber Restaurant
8 High Timber Street
London
EC4V 3PA

Tel: 020 7248 1777

Tewkesbury Food and Drink Festival 2009

by Andrew on April 20, 2009 in Tasting Events/Shows with 2 Comments

tewkesbury_food_drink_festivalThe Tewkesbury Food and Drink Festival, now in its 5th year, has proved to be a great success attracting a high number of visitors to take part in the wide range of activities and delights the Festival has to offer.

“This year we have top television chef James Martin in the cookery theatre doing cookery demonstrations. We also have our local Cotswold Chef, chocolate sculpting, wine and cheese matching, family fun and much more. The food hall boasts 60 top producers, we have a workshop tent for children and 2009 sees the launch of a new Craft Tent for the festival”

Tewkesbury Food and Drink Festival 2009
2nd & 3rd May 10am – 5pm
The Vineyards, Tewkesbury
Festival enquiries and to book your tickets: 01684 855040
For more details please visit the website: www.tewkesburyfoodfestival.co.uk

Italian Restaurant Launches Amnesty for Fake Pizzas

by Andrew on April 18, 2009 in Eating Out, food with No comments

simon_falcoThe manager of a pizza chain is so fed up with Londoners eating unauthentic Italian pizzas that he has launched a ‘pizza amnesty’ at his restaurants.

Simone Falco, managing director of Italian pizza chain Rossopomodoro, which has three restaurants in London, says he started the ‘pizza amnesty’ because he wants everyone to know what pizza from Naples really tastes like.

Falco said: “Let’s face it, the quality of most pizzas in the UK is abysmal, they are nothing like real Italian pizza and companies should stop claiming that they are. It’s pulling the wool over the eyes of the UK consumer.”

Signor Falco says the amnesty will allow customers to taste authentic Neapolitan pizzas at no extra cost. Customers can bring their supermarket fakes into the restaurant and in exchange they will be given a free Rossopomodoro pizza.

All Rossopomodoro pizzas are made entirely from ingredients imported from Naples, including the water for the dough and they are made by chefs trained in the art of traditional Neapolitan pizza making.

The pizza amnesty will run from now until Wednesday 6 May (Monday-Wednesday only) in exchange for any pizza on the main menu, across all Rossopomodoro restaurants.

Save Britain’s Great Pudding Recipes

by Andrew on April 17, 2009 in food, Tasting Events/Shows with No comments

Apple PieEvery family seems to have one. A legendary pudding recipe passed down from generation to generation – and now a maker of traditional British puddings is seeking to bring the very best regional variations from around the country to a wider audience with a unique search for the UK’s most treasured pudding recipes.

From peerless fruitcakes invented by great, great grandmas that people still enjoy to this day to hand-written, dog-eared recipe books containing sticky toffee masterpieces and Christmas pudding delicacies that endure through the ages, great recipes provide a priceless link with our culinary heritage.

But many traditional methods for making puddings are sadly dying out and with this in mind Cole’s Traditional Foods, a family run, national firm and the longest standard maker of traditional puddings in the UK is launching a nationwide hunt for the great pudding recipes that are the true taste of the British Isles.

“This year Cole’s Traditional Foods is celebrating its seventieth anniversary and though we make puddings in exactly the same way as my father did all those years ago we feel the art of properly producing puddings is being lost so have decided to launch a campaign to preserve our nation’s food traditions,” says company owner Chris Cole.

“We’re encouraging people from all over the British Isles who are passionate about puddings to send their traditional pudding recipes to puddings@colestrad.co.uk with a description of where in the country the recipe originates and who is believed to be responsible for it. The entrants will then be categorised by locality and the best from each area will be awarded the title of Cole’s Traditional Foods True Taste of British Puddings winner in each region. When we have presented the awards, the most exciting recipes will then be made by our chefs and published with accreditation in a special book of traditional pudding recipes.”

The very best pudding from the North, South, East and West of England and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will then finally be entered into the True Taste of British Puddings grand final where people will be able to vote online and the winner will be crowned the inaugural True Taste of British Puddings champion and their recipe made into a range by Cole’s.

“We’re enormously excited by this competition,” adds Chris. “Every family has pudding recipes they are proud to call their own and the hunt for the true taste of British puddings will enable people to share their family recipes with pudding lovers from all over the world!”

For more information about the Cole’s Traditional Food’s Hunt For The True Taste of British Puddings and for help with running pieces on the campaign please contact Ben Titchmarsh or Lauren Horncastle from Cole’s Traditional Foods on 01223 410000 or ben@quitegreat.co.uk / lauren@quitegreat.co.uk.

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